Shepherds Inc.

About

Description

Are you interested in making a difference in not only a young person's life, but your own? Shepherds is looking to pair Adult Male and Female Mentors with incoming Freshmen at our partnership high schools located in the Bridgeport and greater New Haven areas. Mentors work one-on-one with Shepherds' students, providing guidance, direction and support over the four year high school journey. Sharing six seemingly simple words "I know you can do it!". Mentors served as role models, filling a void in these young people's lives.

Shepherds students come from a myriad of ethnic and religious backgrounds. Most live in single-parent homes, with grandparents or guardians or are in foster care. All lack the financial resources needed to access the structured high school education required for their personal success. Most are first-generation to dream of higher education. They face three major life hurdles. The first is graduating high school in neighborhoods where the dropout rate soars as high as 54.9%. The second is earning college acceptances and the third is accessing ample financial aid/scholarship support to be able to attend.

Shepherds has a proven track record of success. Currently completing our Fifteenth Anniversary celebration, Shepherds has impacted 270+ young people’s lives with a current population of 91 students. More than 87% of students in the Program finish high school. 100% of whom earned entry and ample financial aid scholarship awards to enroll in college next Fall. With you as a Mentor by their side, those six words can change to - "I know I can do it!" resounding in more young people's voices.

Shepherds meets the need of these "at-risk youth" who could 'fall through the cracks’, acknowledging that emotional, social and financial issues directly impact dropout rates and their ability to make personal decisions that could have lifelong consequences.

Mission: Shepherds' mission is to reach out to disadvantaged inner city Connecticut youths, offering them a college preparatory high school education at a non-public high school with the introduction of a positive role model - a Mentor - into their lives.